Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ruby's Hair

While I was out of town for four days, Cory held down the fort. There's nothing better than knowing everyone is in safe hands when it's time for me to step away.

Unlimited tickle time!

Scrambled eggs for everyone!

Honestly, my kids love having this extra Daddy time.

But, I'll be honest, Ruby's hair suffers for it.

She has taken to calling the hair that fluffs up in the front (every day, no matter what) her "Lion hair". She came up with that on her own, and I love it.

Well, when I returned home, we were well past Lion territory.

We were full-on Don King.

I get lots of questions about her hair, and I totally understand, because I ask everyone who might possibly know anything what I should be doing. It has been a lot of trial an error. But it has always been important to me that her hair is cute. I want her to be proud of the things that set her apart, so I try to keep my muttering dialed down when I'm working my way through a hairstyle.

She's got lots and lots of super curly hair, but it's very fine and soft. What this means is that it tangles easily and fluffs out of styles quickly.

We wash it once every seven to ten days and do a thick conditioner then comb through every tangle. Then it's time to style it, and whatever style we do, she's usually stuck with until the next wash.

We usually have to touch it up at least every two days in between and we put more conditioner in it every day or two.

I found this site a while back and it was a true God-send. I follow her plan, which includes using regular drug-store products.

I spent around 45 minutes yesterday doing a head full of twisties. Love it!! And she always flips her head around like the Friends episode where Monica gets braids on vacation. Can't say that I blame either of them.

Her hair gets dry, so I have also started rubbing a dropper-full of The Coop Keeper's Spring Chicken Serum into it.

Ladies - The Spring Chicken Serum. It is an elixir to behold. I'm an oily-skinned gal myself, but I put this around my eyes and on my wrinkle-prone areas every couple of days. It smells positively blissful. I have also taken to slathering it on my legs - I enjoy the sheen it gives, I rub it into my hands, I put it in Sister Friend's hair. It's all natural, hand bottled and labeled, made with care in the foothills of NW Indiana and one bottle will last you a coon's age.

I just can't say enough about it. If you were to come for a sleepover, I would insist that you try it. Just ask my Mom.

Shawn totally called the Don King look even before we got to your naming it. ;) LOVE it. And "girl hair" has been a HUGE challenge for us over here in these parts, too. Dad is willing to try it...and you can't ask for more than THAT!

OMG, I love Ruby's hair, and the fact that Cory even attempts to take a stab at it!

As a hairstylist I can recommend lots of products. Nathalie has curly hair and we LOVE Moroccan oil! It's lightweight and perfect for fine hair. It helps define the curl and add moisture to dry hair. It's pricey, but I get it for half the cost of retail because I'm licensed. Let me know if you ever want the hook-up! A bottle will last you an entire year or longer.

Your kidlets are the cutest ever...lion hair, no hair, anywhere! I vividly remember my Daddy walking me over to the neighbor lady to have her comb my hair when I was a "small". We had to go to kindergarten open house and Mom was at work. Props to Cory for even trying!:)Jan

I never even thought about putting the serum in Pie's hair. Great idea!

I love the Coopster's beak balm. Use it everyday, at least thrice. Ordered two of them and have not even made a dent in the first one after four months. That Coopy has some high quality products, she does.

Her lion hair is cute! In college I tried the "Rachel" cut. Ugh. Anyway a boy that I had a crush on told me one day that my hair reminded him of a lion's mane. Not exactly what I wanted to hear at the time. I was so not cute.

We have 5 daughters and my husband has always been better at doing their hair than I. He used to do really cute things with our older 3 daughters' hair before sending them out the door to the bus and then would remind them not to tell anyone daddy did it. Then we adopted our younger 2 daughters from Haiti and it was a whole different ballgame! But, their loving daddy was still "game" and learned right along with me how to care for and style their hair. Because "doing hair" can become an all day affair we opted early on for the divide and conguer approach. But, then I felt badly for the daughter whose hair I did because her sister's hair always looked better. Try as I might I could never get the parts as straight or the twists as nice and uniform as he did.

I LOVE Ruby's hair parted and twisted. You did a great job! I always loved how twisting the hair gave it so much more length.

My girls are now 13 and almost 12 so we've moved on to more grownup styles. They both currently have locs below their shoulders. It's the 1st time I've felt I can do a style as well as their daddy!

Here's to daddys who are willing to try and to celebrating the whole spectrum of beautiful hair textures!

This post was so sweet and the pics of Ruby's hair with daddy are so cute!

I love the twisties! A-dorable!

I have stick straight, fine and flat hair. I'd have a hard time with any other type of hair.

Yep, that's where I suffer. I am bad at hair. When I lived in Tennessee, it was so humid that my hair became sort of curly. One day, my best friend said "sorry to tell ya girl, but your hair ain't straight ANYMORE!"

It was a bad hair year until I figured out what to do.

This left me wondering: Does Cory try to fix her hair? Or was that his attempt? I'm laughing. So cute.

I've gotten lost reading your lovely blog this afternoon! (great way to spend the kids naptime!)

I have "lion hair" too, and the best thing my mom ever did for me was find me a hairstylist who could deal with afros...

Twisties are fun, now I wear braids and it's super easy to keep, too... I've gone from afro-y lion hair to flat iron every morning - and no matter how old you get it, this hair never stops being adventurous!

My niece's hair does the same thing, and it makes my sister cringe to think of the damage I could do to her hair if she stayed with me a week. I'm going to start name dropping those styling products, and I'm sure it'll set her mind at ease! Thanks!

Hi,I just thought you'd like to try a book (and website) called Curly Girl. It tells about how the curly hair is totally different and should not be shampooed or brushed, and why, It also tells about certain ingredients in hair products that you should never use. I think it might really help you.

Cute! I was going to tell you about the Curly Girl website as well. It's very informative and has wonderful products. My hair has the Irish blessing/curse--full and curly and prone to frizz. I use the Curly Girl products and love them. I did purchase the Spring Chicken serum. Can't wait to try it!

Ruby is beautiful, what a blessed family. I'am also bi-racial, my mother is white & my father is black and we've had years of mishaps trying to control my mane:) The best advise I can give based on my 46 years of experience is never allow anyone to relax her hair also referred to as a perm in black salons (It is very damaging to mixed hair). With dry/curly hair you must keep it condition & moisturized. For the past 20 years I've been using John Frieda products, they work great and are made for curly/frizzy hair. I use the shampoo, conditioner and the serum. And that little bottle of serum has saved my mane! After you wash & condition Ruby's hair then use the serum (about a dime size) rub it through out her hair then comb through. Never brush because that causes the hair to frizz and try to avoid blow drying as much as possible allow her hair to dry naturally. Once you apply the serum to her hair it will be much easlier to style, and her curls will stay in cute little ringlets. You can find the John Frieda products at Target, Walmart or your local drugstore. Good Luck & happy styling!p.s. Loved the twisted braids you did great!Sherri K.

Totally agree with anonymous above. Please don't ever relax Ruby's beautiful mane. It reminds me so much of mine when I was her age. Unfortunately, mine was relaxed eventually to make it easier for my mum to cope with and I'm paying the price for this now as my hair will never be as thick and beautiful as it was and Ruby's is. With so much negativity towards hair that is not poker straight, its great to see that you and Ruby are embracing her natural beauty. Don't give up. xxx PS Someone has already said morrocan oil above. Coconut oil, shea butter, jojoba oil and cowashing (ie washing hair with conditioner rather than SLS loaded shampoos). Try curlynikki.com - I'm still learning from this website. Good luck.